Amazon Video Spotlight: New Wave Martial Arts Movies

The modern trend in martial arts films replaces melodrama and traditional themes with over-the-top action, often coupled with touches of dark humor, sometimes mixing the kung fu genre with Western or organized crime settings and characters. The following movies are all examples of this new wave in kung fu movies. All movie descriptions below are from IMDB.

Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves in a town ruled by the Axe Gang, Sing who desperately wants to become a member. He stumbles into a slum ruled by eccentric landlords who turns out to be the greatest kung-fu masters in disguise. Sing’s actions eventually cause the Axe Gang and the slumlords to engage in an explosive kung-fu battle.

Only one side will win and only one hero will emerge as the greatest kung-fu master of all.– Written by Anthony Pereyra

The movie trailer shows how highly stylized and original this film is:

Yang, the world’s finest swordsman, packs it in and leaves Japan to find an old friend in the Wild West rather than kill the infant queen of a rival clan.

He carries the baby to his friend’s desolate, broken-down town; the friend has died, so Yang reopens a laundry and settles down, hanging wet clothes, growing flowers, raising the infant, and finding himself attracted to Lynne, a red-haired woman with a tragic past.

As long as Yang keeps his sword sheathed, his rivals won’t find him, but a band of reprobate gunmen terrorize the town and threaten Lynne.

Showdowns are inevitable, but once the sword is drawn, can Yang find rest, a home, and a family?– Written by jhailey